


alleycat

by wingsaloof



Series: A3_69min [2]
Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Phantom Thief (Persona 5), Gen, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-26 23:50:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21382624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingsaloof/pseuds/wingsaloof
Summary: "In some sort of way, Tenma was the middle ground in his double life."
Relationships: Nanao Taichi/Sumeragi Tenma
Series: A3_69min [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1541476
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	alleycat

**Author's Note:**

> made for [a3_69min](https://twitter.com/a3_69min), prompt "masks"
> 
> based on [a drabble i made a while ago](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16849249/chapters/39558235). its the same universe as persona 5, but it doesnt follow the game's story. dont worry about spoilers!
> 
> everyone's codenames (except banri) are based on play characters, can you guess who's who?

Taichi was fascinated by his own double life. The thrill of being a vigilante in the shadows, protecting and saving people from cruelty and mistreatment, the mystical powers that allowed him to do it — it turns out reality really is more fantastic than fiction, he grins to himself in the backseat of the Kamemobile. Upon the many mysteries of the Metaverse, though, there was one that kept coming back to him. That orange-haired boy who insisted in fighting by himself, always getting lost in the endless halls of Mementos, always getting rescued by Taichi and his friends.

That boy — who had received the codename of “Mike”, despite not being one of them — was sulking by the window, ignoring Omi’s, no, Wolf’s gentle words of advice. Despite how Ban... Neo always complained, he’d comply to Taichi’s requests of going after Mike every time they heard his screams of frustration. Blood and Abel would manhandle him into getting into the car, and then they’d leave together.

"Why don’t you just join out group?” Broto tapped his shoulder, trying to get Mike’s attention. “You already stick with us halfway every other trip.”

“Not by choice”, he huffed, still looking away. “If only you’d let me do my thing, you wouldn’t need to—”

“Oh, but that’s Zero’s fault.” Neo looked at them through the windshield. “Complain at him for not letting your ass get whooped by every single Shadow you run into.”

Taichi’s cheeks heated up, matching the shade of his hair. Good thing his mask covered most of his face, and Mike wasn’t close enough to notice his blush. “I- I can’t leave someone in need right behind me! Aren’t we heroes? We have to save people!”

"Have you ever considered that I don’t need to be saved?”

Before silence let the situation take a even more awkward turn, Neo’s roaring laughter interrupted it, leading to Kamekichi shouting at him to drive more carefully.

The other half of his double life wasn’t as exciting as invading mind palaces and running over metaphysical subway tracks, but it still had its charms. Even if he could summon thunderstorms as Zero, at least Taichi Nanao had some sick skateboard and yo-yo skills (unfortunately, those weren’t very useful in the other world). And there was one last mystery left in this side of life, at least — Tenma Sumeragi, the orange-haired boy who sits at the first row of his class. High school student by morning, nation-wide famous actor by afternoon, and by night...

Now, Taichi wasn’t a genius by any standards, but he was smart enough to put the dots together. If Mike was a boy around his age, he should be in high school, and if he acessed Mementos by the same entrance as them, he should be from the same area. And come on, how many orange-haired people have you seen around? The main deal here was how to approach him about it. Has Tenma ever looked his way, has he ever deduced he is Zero? Even if he did so, would he like to be approached? He looks pretty annoyed in Mementos, after all...

Why does he throw himself into the Metaverse by himself, barely able to scrap by? What is he trying to attain with that? How does he manage school, acting and palace raiding? How did he get his powers, to begin with? Taichi had been scared to death when his Persona awakened, and even then he had Banri and Juza by his side...

The image of Tenma, all by himself, walking over to the entrance and getting into his limousine hurt Taichi’s heart, just a little. He had never seen that boy with any expression other than an empty stare and the smile he puts on for press conferences (even if painfully fake, it still managed to make his heart thump a little). Taichi wanted to reach out to him; if that wasn’t possible in their other life, at least in this one. He wanted to become friends with Tenma, to lend him his shoulder and ears, so maybe they could fight together someday, having each other’s back. Even if the whole Persona deal was over someday, he still wanted to have a reason to keep in touch.

He wanted to be by Tenma’s side.

It was weird to admit that. Their only interactions were awkward post-rescue rides in the Kamemobile, and Mike probably didn’t like Zero one bit for being the one who insisted on going after him every time. Yet, Taichi found himself caring more about Tenma every single day, from seeing the way he scratches his head when he doesn’t get what the teacher just said, to how he leaps out of the car when they bump on some Shadow on the way home. From how he loses his composture when Wolf is making small talk to him, to when Taichi catches him snoring during lunch break. It made him look forward to school in the morning and to the underworld raids after it.

In some sort of way, Tenma was the middle ground in his double life, even if he was distant and mostly unattainable for both Zero and Taichi Nanao. But you know what? If he was able to sucessfully infiltrate palaces, steal treasures and hearts, knock all the enemies down with one strike... He could start trying peeling off Tenma Sumeragi’s mask. Not Mike’s literal mask, no, that shit was awful and hurt as hell, but — there was no harm in trying. If he managed to become a true hero after so many years of wanting and wishing to be something, he could stop looking at him from the back of their classroom.

Taichi got up from his seat, lunchbox in hand, and started walking towards that desk.

**Author's Note:**

> in case you didn't get the codenames
> 
> taichi/zero and omi/wolf are outright stated (yay for stranger!)  
tenma as mike comes from adventure for sardines. banri gave him the nickname because "only a baby cat gets lost this often" and they always pick him up like a stray  
blood = juza (from fallen blood)  
abel = azami (from dead/undead)  
broto = kumon (from the floral prince)
> 
> and yes kamekichi is their morgana
> 
> ... every time i think about this au, i get more stuff sorted out. maybe this won't be the last time you hear of it
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/wingsaloof)
> 
> thanks for reading!


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